Meeting of January 19, 2011 - Human Trafficking and Forced Labor

Panida Rzonca
Program Associate
Thai Community Development Center

Panida Rzonca earned her JD at Southwestern School of Law in Los Angeles in 2009 and her BA in Political Science with a focus on International Relations at the University of Southern California at San Diego in 2004.

Rzonca’s commitment to work in anti-trafficking began during her position as the Americorp Legal Intern at the Thai community Development Center (THAI CDC) in 2007. While at Thai CDC she assisted in resettling families of trafficking victims and providing other social services including access to legal assistance.

Rzonca’s experience also includes clerking at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) to assist attorneys in their continued assistance to workers from the EEOC v. Trans Bay case in 2009. While at LAFLA, she worked with both clients of labor and sex trafficking.

Currently, Rzonca serves the Thai community through her work as a Program Associate at Thai Community Development Center under the Anti-Human Trafficking Program primarily serving victims involved in the Department of Justice indictment for labor trafficking against the labor subcontracting firm Global Horizons. She has provided comprehensive social services including reporting trafficking cases to law enforcement and assisting victims in navigating the legal system for obtaining immigration status and ultimately, justice.

In addition to her work in anti-human trafficking, Rzonca has been involved with both labor and housing rights advocacy. She is dedicated to workers rights advocacy within the Thai community working on public awareness campaigns and direct services to help workers navigate governmental agencies for wage and fair labor standard claims. With regards to housing rights, she serves as a certified foreclosure intervention and default counselor, providing counseling to Thais with limited English proficiency that are in danger of losing their homes.

Rzonca is determined to continue assisting the underserved through media and fund raising campaigns to raise awareness for the Anti-Human Trafficking Program at Thai CDC.